CalMessage to Deans/Department Chairs
From: Hans Sluga, Chair, Committee on Courses of Instruction
04/02/15
Subject: New requirement and recommendations for student-facilitated courses (including DeCal
courses)
The Committee on Courses of Instruction (COCI) reviews proposals for student-facilitated
courses (numbered 98 and 198) offered campuswide. While many of these courses are fine, we
have become concerned that some departments are not paying sufficient attention to the courses
they sponsor. COCI is concerned that
• instructors of record are not adequately supervising all courses,
• many courses do not have adequate academic content, and
• the workload for some courses does not justify the unit value.
To address these issues, COCI is instituting a new requirement, making a new recommendation,
and reminding you of its expectations. We request that deans, department chairs, and program
heads share this information with all faculty and lecturers, preferably at a faculty meeting.
1) Instructors of record need to make themselves familiar with the responsibilities of
supervision and the requirements for student-facilitated courses, before agreeing to sponsor
such a course.
• Instructors are referred to the Faculty Checklist
(http://vcue.berkeley.edu/specialstudies/faculty_checklist.pdf) and a new FAQ
(http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/committees/coci/studentfacilitated-course-information/faq-ior-final.pdf).
• Additionally, COCI recommends that departments use a signature sheet that spells out
the responsibilities of the instructor of record. This is a detailed accounting of the
supervision expected by COCI and intended to be answered by question #5 on the
proposal form, “How will the instructor of record supervise the student facilitator(s)?”
and is available online (http://academicsenate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/committees/coci/student-facilitated-courseinformation/iorsigsheet.pdf).
2) As specified in the checklists, student-facilitated courses are expected to be academic in
nature. Specifically:
• Courses must include explicit academic content and requirements, beyond classroom
attendance, for receiving credit. For example, students should read material that places
the topic of the course in an academic context; and students should carry out a project,
such as a short paper (or papers), a presentation, or creating a website.
• A complete, finalized syllabus must be submitted, that includes an outline of course
content, a reading list, a statement of frequency of class meetings, and a clear description
of assignments and requirements for passing the class, along with the other requirements
listed on the proposal form.
3) In order to ensure that workload requirements (set by Senate Regulation 760
(http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/manual/rpart3.html#r760)) are adhered to, effective
for fall 2015 courses, COCI will require the submission of the worksheet to calculate
workload and resultant unit value, available at http://academicsenate.berkeley.edu/committees/coci/sfc. Note that the hours given are the minimum hours
required. Note also that any courses offered for two or more units are expected to strictly
adhere to academic requirements, as described above. Items listed on the worksheet must
correspond to requirements in the syllabus. For courses offered for variable units, a separate
worksheet is required for each unit value. (Some departments and student facilitators have
already been using this tool; from now on it will be required as part of the proposal.)
COCI reiterates that department chairs are responsible for monitoring the academic quality of all
courses in their departments, including student-facilitated courses. Before approving studentfacilitated course proposals, department chairs should take care to review each syllabus and
verify that the instructor of record will appropriately supervise the course. Departments may set
their own restrictions on course prerequisites, facilitator qualifications, deadline for submission,
unit value, etc., as long as they do not conflict with Senate regulations and policies.